MOG + BMW: Is easy-to-control streaming audio worth $10/month?

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Here’s one more reason high-end cars are cooler than yours: BMW and MOG are about to roll out an integrated version of the MOG Primo service that promises to be easy to use, reduce driver distraction, and provide access to the music you want. MOG uses the LCD display and navigation controls integrated into many new BMWs, so you don’t have to mess with your phone while driving. Just don’t get the idea that streaming music comes free: BMW demonstrated a working beta version of MOG at the introduction of its $90,000 6 Series coupe this month, and it requires a navigation system that costs $1,900 on mainstream Bimmers, the $250 BMW Apps software package, and MOG Primo for $9.99 a month.

Pandora has already made heavy inroads into the streaming audio market and BMW in fact has an interface for Pandora as well. Now comes MOG, which gives the user more control of his or her listening experience, but at about the same monthly cost as having satellite radio in the car. MOG lets you hear an entire album, choose to listen to an artist and similar artists (and choose the ratio of artist to sounds-like artists), and queue music on your phone for when the car drives out of reach of a cellular signal, or for offline listening deep inside a building or on a plane. (That’s for the Primo service on smartphones; there are cheaper MOG services such as to PCs.)

This is all part of BMW’s ConnectedDrive strategy that encompasses all manner of music delivery including Pandora; Google search, Twitter, and Facebook in the dashboard display; BMW Assist mayday calling and soon crash severity evaluation; and streaming music. — and curiously, the technology even lets a new BMW (most 2011 and later models) work with applications and services that don’t yet exist. BMW and a third-party vendor (Apple so far, soon Android, maybe BlackBerry) certify the app is well-behaved and won’t run your car into a ditch (that remains the driver’s responsibility), then you can download the app, and BMW knows how to present the app on the big center stack LCD display and manipulate it through the car’s iDrive controller and steering wheel buttons.

The concept of forward compatibility is a given on a PC or Mac — the next version of Word and Photoshop will work — but it’s a revelation of the highest order in the car business. Automakers patiently explain how the car is complex and safety is paramount and the US has too many liability lawyers, but there’s still the unspoken admission, “Yeah, we are kind of slow compared to Silicon Valley.” Exhibit One is that the CD player is standard, not USB jacks, in most cars.

Primo

MOG Primo offers a lot of variety. Some of it will be available when it launches as a BMW Apps Certified App probably later this year — but not all. Like most automakers, BMW makes you suffer if you’re not on the iPhone bandwagon. At launch, the MOG-BMW app works only on the iPhone. MOG Primo is also available for Android phones (and PCs, laptops, TVs, and in-home music streaming devices) but if you bring one of those second-class citizens into your BMW, you can forward the music to the car audio system via streaming Bluetooth or a USB connection, but there’s no direct control yet. So drive carefully while fiddling with the phone and consider ordering BMW’s lane departure warning system to keep from drifting into another car. BMW is not hostile to Android any more than other automakers, mind — while Android may have more market share worldwide, the single standard that is iPhone is easier to work and iPhone has a disproportionately high share in the demographics segment that includes BMW buyers.

Paul Ferraiolo, manager of product planning and strategy for BMW of North America, says, “The development of BMW Apps enables us to bring new features into the car with a speed that simply was not possible before.” What the means is once you have a car with BMW Apps, and your phone is supported, it might be a matter of mere months from when the application is released to when it’s certified by BMW and Mini; far better than waiting for a new model to come along in three years that only then works with a two-year-old application. So even if Android users are currently annoyed, things will get better for them soon.

If you’re a BMW or Mini owner, the ability to run MOG Primo or Pandora depends on how new your car is and which model. Then it’s up to you to decide if you want to spend your $10 a month on satellite radio that works everywhere (even the middle of nowhere) or the near-infinite variety of streaming audio where you pick the music to play.

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